Committee Meetings

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About the Nassau Chapter Litigation & Forensic Services Committee

Providing pertinent and current support for the various practice niches
within the accounting field is a responsibility the Chapter takes very
seriously, particularly in cases where a practice area is emerging, subject to
significant change or mutable by its very nature. Litigation services is a very
active component in some CPA practices, and the Chapter’s Litigation Services
Committee is an important resource.

Chaired by Nannette Watts, CPA, ABV, CFF and Kathleen Suker,
CPA, CFF, CFE, the committee offers CPE courses, expert insight and support that cover the varied
terrain of forensics, business valuation and fraud investigations to help both
the inexperienced and seasoned CPA who works in or has an interest in litigation
services.

“Depending upon what the topic is,” explains Nannette, “we get a
different audience. Although we have a core audience of people who are involved in litigation, we also
have attendees in accounting and auditing services, those who are new to
accounting and have an interest in litigation services and valuation, and we
even attract experienced practitioners looking to do something new. We provide
programs suitable for all levels, offering as many as five CPE courses each
Chapter year.”

Kathleen and Nannette bring a shared experience to their committee
leadership: They both worked at Marcum, but more recently, Nannette’s experience
has been with a smaller firm that focuses on litigation services. Nannette is a
principal at Financial Appraisal Services Ltd. Kathleen is a manager in the
Advisory Group based out of Marcum’s Long Island office and has more than 10
years of experience in forensic accounting and business valuation
services.

“We made the natural progression to committee leadership after attending
meetings over the years,” says Kathleen. “Together we bring a good diversity of
experience to the table. Firms like Marcum deal with the larger scale, more
complex situations dealing with fraud and shareholder disputes and multistate
and international issues, while Nannette’s firm works more with closely held
companies and performs valuations primarily for divorce and estate
settlements.”

E-discovery, a hot topic in litigation, was the subject of a past CPE
hosted by the committee. Suffolk County District Court Judge James P. Flanagan
presented to the group along with representatives from Cyber Diligence, a local
computer fraud and cyber crime investigation company. Judge Flanagan explained
how he proceeds from the bench with computer records, giving the attendees a
better understanding of how to put together records to benefit a
case.

“Accountants need to know how to help their clients when the clients must
produce records. In that role, CPAs have to be able to understand what to give,
and what to hold back in response to demands for information,” says Nannette.

A rule of thumb seems to be to provide only what you’re asked for, and
nothing more. “If you use a certain format, for example, there may be more
underlying information that you’re also providing, as nothing on the computer is
ever really deleted. An investigator can still see links to other documents or
other people you’ve communicated with, even with the bcc function on emails, for
example. On the flip side, there’s also a method of how to specifically ask for
what you need, for example, information that is downloadable into
Excel. It’s important to do it right the first
time.”

“All committee meetings result in CPE credits,” notes Kathleen. “We
usually hold breakfast meetings that start with networking. There’s a core group
of people who regularly attend the meetings—we’re trying to expand the group by
inviting more attorneys and judges to speak at the meetings. We’ve also had
successful roundtable discussions with input from different perspectives and
levels of experience. We hear about real life situations, trials and cases that
people have been involved in. Our audience really benefits from front line
stories.”

Another CPE was on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Erica Garay,
chair of the ADR practice at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, addressed the
differences between litigation and ADR, the ADR process and its components, and
the role of the mediator.

“I like that all my cases and their issues are distinct and different,”
says Nannette. “We deal with a gamut of industries, and from that perspective,
we’re always learning about different issues. A lot of young people are
interested in this field—we spoke with a lot of people at the Young CPA
events.”

“Thinking outside the box is really important to this type of work,”
advises Kathleen. “You need the background in traditional accounting, but then
take it a step further to be able to recognize improprieties or
misappropriations. People are very inventive at hiding resources and
transactions and we have to be both creative and knowledgeable to uncover their
tracks.”